PORT ST. LUCIE – On his first day as a Met, Kaz Ishii tried to provide some assurance.

Ishii, who’s here to replace Steve Trachsel as the fifth starter, comes in with a track record of issuing his share of walks. But the 31-year-old lefty insists he isn’t too worried about his free passes.

“The walks number doesn’t really bother me,” Ishii said.

“I may walk a lot of guys, but I will also provide a lot of wins as well. I would like it if everyone [doesn’t] get too nervous about the walks.”

As Ishii will soon learn, how people react to his pitching will be pretty much up to him.

But as he was unveiled yesterday at a Tradition Field news conference, Ishii (who went 13-8 with a 4.71 ERA last year) sounded both ready and excited to tackle New York.

“I’m just here to do one thing and I just would like to be part of a winning team,” he said, noting that he’s unfazed by the pressure of pitching here.

“I don’t think it will be a problem because I like the attention. But at the same time, I don’t want to have too much attention. Anywhere I go, I’ll try to do the same thing and I’ll just try to maintain the pace that I’ve had and do what I did in the other locations.”

Ishii, who owns a 36-25 record in his three major league seasons, already is semi-entrenched in his new organization.

Acquired for Jason Phillips, Ishii is even wearing Phillips’ old No. 23. He’ll also start replacing Trachsel immediately – Ishii is scheduled to throw his first bullpen session today and make his first Met start on Saturday.

When he does, Ishii will try to continue what’s been a stellar spring. He’s tossed seven scoreless innings over a three-game span, striking out 10. An encouraging sign is that Ishii said the velocity on his fastball has been up this spring.

The key number, though, is Ishii’s four walks in those seven innings – and that high base-on-balls total is not just a Grapefruit League anomaly.

By now you know what Ishii’s biggest problem is – he hands out free passes generously, issuing the second-most in baseball over the last three years.

Asked if Ishii’s walks have to be reduced, pitching coach Rick Peterson downplayed the situation.

“I think the main issue is keeping the run production at a minimum. That’s the bottom line,” Peterson said. “You don’t get any points if you touch first base.”

Peterson spent the morning looking at video of his new starter, and planned to sit down with Ishii in the afternoon to get to know him further. Asked what he’s heard about Peterson, Ishii replied, “I just heard some great stories from a lot of different people.”

One thing that should help Ishii’s transition here is that he already knows one of his teammates, Kazuo Matsui, who faced him in Japan.

“It is comforting,” Ishii said, “and the fact that I’ll be able to recognize a Japanese face on the infield will be comforting as well.”